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World Cup #3 – Koksijde

This will be a short report – I’ve got a four hour drive ahead of me, so I’ll keep this brief, plus the organisers are shooting ugly looks towards me for staying this late.

It was a great day, great races. It was good to see Katie Compton being so dominant, maybe she’ll be able to contest Marianne Vos this year? Nikki Harris’ second place was also very cool, she rode really well today.

As ever, the first half of the elite men’s race gave us the hope of a different ending, only for it to be won by Sven Nys. Francis Mourey’s third place was great, it shook things up a bit, not just the usual suspects on the podium.

All right, I’m off to Gieten, tune in tomorrow for photos and report.

Gabby Day with her mum

Wietse Bosmans getting stronger and stronger, he added another win to his palmares today

Rapha-Focus team manager Jeff Rowe waits for Zach McDonald in the ‘materiaalzone’. Note that gears are preset for Zach to just jump on the bike and start pedalling straight away.

Mike Teunissen loses his balance on the famous sandy straight

Michiel van der Heijden and Wout van Aert ‘dances’ in the sand

When the race ends, officials have to remove the tiiming chips. Today, when the officials tried to stop a few riders, they were met with a lot of anger, who were clearly annoyed by this after a very tough race.

This course just wrecks bikes

Zach McDonald counts his upcoming races.

Nikki Harris had a great start and she led the field in the first lap. She was in great form.

The cutest thing you will see this year.

From the second lap, Katie Compton TT-d away from the rest of the field and never looked back. Marianne Vos-style

It was interesting that while Compton ran the whole sandy section, Harris managed to ride the first half. Whether the latter method was faster or not is up for discussion.

Pavla Havlikova floats over the course.

While it was good to see new faces in the front, Sanne van Paassen’s absence was interesting. After finishing the race, she didn’t stay around much but rode straight back to her camper van.

Katie Compton presses on.

Utter exhaustion on Gabby Day’s face – understandably, it was a very tough race.

Amy Dombroski is being filmed in the rain.

It was drizzling throughout the day but it started properly raining right before the elite men’s start.

Niels Albert in the carnage of the first lap.

Ian Field started well but an early flat meant finishing near the end of the field.

Simon Zahner adjust his ‘package’.

Niels Albert spent the last third of the race in the front and it seemed that it would be yet another win for the current World Champion

It’s always good to see new faces and while Francis Mourey has been around for ages, he hasn’t been on the podium at a World Cup for a very long time. Chapeau!

With one lap to go, Lars van der Haar chases Rob Peeters.

Last season’s World Championships’ paraphernalia

I was about to get to the finish when Christoph Pfingsten hit the ground right in front of me. He was in pain and he was struggling to carry on. Kudos that he did.